Bryan Coursey, at far right, died 17 days after he was shot in the head outside a Reno strip club. He is pictured here with his father, Wally, and sister, Bobbi Vesco. / Courtesy Tanya Coursey

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Cesar Garcia.

bringing justice for bryan coursey

Coursey’s family has raised a $6,000 reward, along with a $2,500 reward offered by Secret Witness. Secret Witness can be reached at 322-4900 or at www.secretwitness.comDetectives may be reached at 334-2115.Donations to increase the family reward amount may be sent to: Justice for Bryan Coursey, P.O. Box 61242, Reno, NV 89506.For more information about Coursey, go to www.bryancoursey.com, or http://www.myspace.com/bryancourseyThe family is also selling shirts, bumper stickers and bracelets where proceeds for the reward fund.

The Night Bryan Coursey Was ShotAbout midnight on June 15, Bryan Coursey, 20, was with a group of friends who tried to gain entrance into the strip club, Diamond Dolls, at 310 Spokane St. The group was told to leave because it was underage. At the same time, another group of men who had an altercation inside with some others spilled out into the parking lot. Reno police homicide Sgt. Kim Bradshaw said Coursey was standing by his vehicle when gunshots were fired, one striking Coursey in the head. Police retrieved video surveillance of the shooting. On Nov. 2, North Valleys High School retired Coursey’s basketball jersey, No. 5, and announced the “Bryan Coursey Warrior Award” that will be given out at the end of each season for the player with the most heart. — Jaclyn O’Malley

Arnulfo Carrillo.

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Wally Coursey was greeted at his son’s hospital room by a nurse who said they had to show him something.

After pulling the curtain back, he saw his 20-year-old son, Bryan, who had piercing brown eyes, flashing his famous crooked smile.

“Hi dad,” he said.

The elder Coursey began to cry.

“I told you my dad is a crybaby, and would cry when he sees me,” Bryan Coursey told the nurse.

But the miracle would not last.

Bryan Coursey died 17 days after he was shot in the head outside a Reno strip club. Doctors were unable to remove the .45-caliber bullet lodged in his brain, and he was paralyzed on his left side. He died July 1 of a blood clot, after his family and friends believed he was recovering.

His family has raised a $6,000 reward, along with the $2,500 reward being offered by Secret Witness for information about the two men suspected in the shooting, Arnulfo Carillo, 33, and Cesar Garcia, 23. The local men have been charged in a warrant with conspiracy to commit murder and are believed to have fled to Mexico.

“We want these people to pay for what they did to our family,” Bryan Coursey’s sister, Bobbi Vesco said.

“They need to know he wasn’t some punk kid sitting outside a strip club, but he was a very loved man, and they absolutely tore a family apart.”

For the first several days of his hospitalization, Bryan Coursey couldn’t talk. To communicate, he squeezed the hands of his family members and used sign language with his longtime girlfriend Mandie Flynn. When began speaking, his family thought in vain it was a sign he was going to live.

“He said he didn’t understand why it happened, that he was innocent, just standing in the parking lot,” Flynn said. “He didn’t understand why he was shot. He would ask us ‘have they caught the guys who did this to me’ and he would say ‘I never wish this pain on anyone.’”

Wally Coursey, nicknamed “Daddy-O” by his son, was a single father, who relished in his son’s athletic accomplishments and was always in attendance of his games. He liked to make sandwiches for his son, because Bryan Coursey told him he made them better. The pair liked to go to movies and University of Nevada basketball games. Coursey also left behind an older brother, Kyle, who lives in Montana.

One day when Coursey was 11, he was driving with his father when he asked his dad to pull over next to a homeless man. Bryan Coursey gave the transient a $5 bill.

In the days before the shooting, Coursey was enjoying being a new uncle to he nephew, Andrew, who was born in March. Coursey’s sister, Bobbi Vesco, said her son looks identical to her brother, which triggers memories of Bryan Coursey, who was the glue to her family.

Flynn said she and Coursey were saving money to move to Arizona to play junior college athletics. They had been dating since they were 13. Coursey had played basketball for one season at Feather River College, in Quincy, Calif. In 2006, he graduated from North Valleys High School, where he had been a star basketball player. He wanted to be a firefighter.